Catherine:
Welcome to the Loved Called Gifted Podcast. This is your place to come for musings about spirituality, identity and purpose. I'm your host, Catherine Cowell. So for this episode I'm absolutely delighted to be in the gorgeous, gorgeous fudge shop at Trentham Gardens with Toni Blaze So would you like to just introduce yourself a little bit, Toni?

Toni:
Yes, I am Toni and I am the co-owner of Treat Boxes and Chocolates to Cherish. which is a relatively new shop in the Trentham shopping village.

Catherine:
Yes, and we got chatting because I noticed that you were selling fudge, which I think is a great thing. So I couldn't resist kind of coming in and having a look. And we got chatting a bit about your story really. And I really love talking to people who've got a sense of kind of calling around what they do and who are really really passionate about what they do and your passion absolutely shone out so I thought this would be a really interesting conversation to have So I know that you didn't start off doing this, did you? That you've got a bit of a story as to how you ended up here. So do you want to tell us what you were doing? before?

Toni:
Yes, so I actually worked twenty three years in the veterinary industry, so quite a difference. But I've always had a love for baking, uh making treats, that kind of thing. So that was my spare time, that was my hobby. I did a lot of cake baking, cake decorating and actually competed in Cake International in 2016. My first and only time actually entering Cake International but I did get gold So that's an achievement that I was really proud of. But then about 11-12 years ago, my parents bought for my birthday a fudge making kit. And this is the first time that I'd experimented and made fudge, albeit in a kit form, but I actually really enjoyed experimenting and making lots of different flavours And so that kind of really kick-started the whole fudge side of things. As I went on with the fudge though, I was quite keen to develop my own recipe, but I wanted to do like a traditional homemade Fudge, which is when I started creating my own recipe. And that recipe is actually being tweaked and adapted over the years. But yeah, I am happy to say that sort of eleven, twelve years on I've got the recipe exactly where I want it and it will not be changing because I you know, we get really good feedback from it. So um yeah, I think I've got it where I want it to be now and uh yeah, love seeing people uh enjoying it. And I do have over thirty-six different flavours now.

Catherine:
Wow, that is a lot of different flavours of fudge So going back to the veterinary thing, how did you get into that? What was it that drew you to that?

Toni:
Oh, so back that would have been in the year two thousand, it was basically, you know, um I applied for a job I'd kind of trained A levels in the marketing field and the art field, so it was a marketing position in quite a large veterinary organization. It had a a hospital and six branch surgeries. So I did the marketing promotions and analysis uh for that really. Yeah, until uh August twenty twenty three when I was actually made redundant from that role. So then it was time to look for something new to do. Yeah, yeah.

Catherine:
What was it that drew you to marketing? Is that something that you really enjoyed?

Toni:
It is. Like I say I it was it was my training, it was my GCCs, it's my A levels. I just enjoyed the subject at school, um and then carried on, obviously wanting to find a job. in that area really. But the whole time sort of at home at weekends at Siloan we're still baking. Yeah. And we're still making things. But uh, you know, the it w it was just a hobby at that point alongside my job in my own time.

Catherine:
Cause obviously you do do quite a lot of marketing really quite successfully here. And I'm wondering what it was about marketing that particular Creativity.

Toni:
Yeah. Creativity. So obviously marketing is very heavily analysis and data, which over the years I did develop a real keen interest in data as as well, to be honest. But Honestly, initially it's creativity and I think that comes whatever project or whatever I'm involved if creativity is always what draws me into getting excited about a product, you know, what can I create? What can we design? What can we bring to life? So that carries through I think in most things I do it's an idea, how does that look? What do I do or do I need to do to make it happen? And how can I get it out there?

Catherine:
Yeah. It sounds like you're sort of drawing together both creativity but also a really kind of keen mind and an ability to sort of look at well how will this actually work?

Toni:
Hopefully I mean don't get me wrong, social media has come on quite a f a bit the last um couple of years and you have got to understand algorithms and I'll be honest at times I get a little bit lost with the likes of TikTok. And and sometimes like my uh a few of my stepchildren who are sort of nineteen and and twenty two they have to help me out but uh but yeah I I enjoy all that social creating videos creating the the nice photos and uh the reels and stuff so it's always I've been lucky I can carry that knowledge from those years in that job into this business really and I'm very lucky that I've got a really interesting subject. I mean, who doesn't want to see videos of pouring chocolate and making function?

Catherine:
So when do you think if you look and we will definitely we will talk a lot about fudge, but when you look back as a child even, when do you think you When were you first marketing? Like were you one of those kids who sold things to their parents, that kind of thing?

Toni:
So yes, this is actually something that I do very vividly recall as an only child I would often sit in my bedroom and I would get all the books or my toys and and and sort of lay them out around my bedroom. And then I would put little stickers on them with prices on them. So I was kind of setting up a little shop in in my bedroom. Which when you think about it now, I was obviously even from that would have been sort of seven, eight years old. Um you know, my mind was thinking, well, you know, display things, create things, put things together as packs, you know, I'd do little goodie bags. Um seven eight years old just putting items, my own toys, in a in a bag and putting little stickers on them as as goodie bags for absolutely no reason whatsoever, just for my own entertainment. So yeah, it's always must have yeah, been there.

Catherine:
Yes, yeah, yeah. It I think it's really interesting when we look back and kind of see how those threads of of who we are kind of carry all the way through. So there was that thread of thinking about presenting things to people, like even at that really young age.

Toni:
Absolutely, yeah. They never went anywhere in that day, but it's now it's almost like I'm doing that for real now and they people actually b and that's the surreal thing, you know, doing that in my bedroom and then obviously being alone and then packing it all away And and I think for now to actually do it and you know, I am actually really doing this now. Yeah. This is real. You know, I've I actually have brought it to life almost and and you know, people seem to love it so Yeah, I that's a real sense of proud achievement for me, for sure.

Catherine:
Yeah, and that as you look around your shop, which is so I mean, it is really beautifully, beautifully presented, and if anybody is local enough to come and have a look I would say definitely come and come and have a look. 'Cause I think it's one of those places where just walking in you get a sense of the the artistry and the care that you've put into making it a really beautiful space.

Toni:
I hope so, yeah, yeah. And we do get really nice comments about the shop, you know, and and the you know the the variation of of products and the choice and you know, so yeah.

Catherine:
I think it really adds something very lovely to the world, you know, these just beautiful spaces, whatever they are, I think. I think is really lovely.

Toni:
It just seeing people smile, isn't it, you know?

Catherine:
Yeah, yeah. So that was the beginning of your kind of marketing and where did you first start? cooking lovely things.

Toni:
So a real big fan of Great British Bake Off, uh as many people are, you know, really popular show, so I would watch that and then sort of go in the kitchen and copy whatever they'd made that week, you know. So I'd go and get all the ingredients and spend the weekend baking breads, cookie I mean all sorts really, the y you know, not just cakes. I'd I would do biscuits and pastries and and breads and then obviously Monday morning take it all into work. So, um, which everybody loved, obviously for that. It's like, oh yeah, this is great, you can keep on doing this. And then a few comments of you should really enter the grape we should bake off and not a chance. Putting myself through that pressure. But actually rather than sort of go down that route, it was baking for my own personal enjoyment really. But Then cake decorating came into the mix. Yeah. So I did start professional cake decorating lessons. Mm-hmm And I did that for a couple of years. And then uh one of the ladies who who taught me, she's she's quite a big cake artist actually, uh Rose Maysfield cake crafter uh who's who taught me and she encouraged me one day and said, you know what? I think you really should think about competing. And I'm not an overly confident person. This is the thing, you know. So it my instant reaction is like, I can't do that And I think it's the same with a lot of people. You have self doubt, don't you, and and and a confidence thing, but something in me, again, creativity, you know, it was Think well what would I do if I were to enter? What would I actually create as a novelty cake, you know, because that was my preferred method with sculpted novelty cakes. So I found myself sitting and thinking of all these different things to do and one day I was out walking because I live quite near to Canot Chase And I was walking through the forest and I've got quite a fascination with uh, you know, the you see the fairy doors and tree trunks and little fairy houses. So I started to get an idea about doing a decorative tree trunk but as a mouse house. Okay. So I actually took photographs of bark of trees and ivy and moss. So the more I started to think about it, it's like yeah, what about doing a tree trunk with little door, little windows? with a little mouse poking out one of the windows, you know. So took all the pictures, started to sketch it out, uh, and thought, you know what, I didn't enter at that point. I thought I'll start it. If I'm happy with the progress of it, I'll enter it Um so that's what I did and surprisingly I've i you know it seemed to come together really well. So I carried on so I completed the application form. and finished it and yeah, the day came. I took it along, pop it on the competition table with all the other the entries and you know, you have people bringing cakes from all over the world. They're literally shipped across from all over the world. Had a little wobble, thinking I am out of my depth here Um But you know, it just just left it to fate, really, and absolutely blown away. They were judged that evening, and so I woke up the next morning to find out that I had got gold. Brilliant. Well done. I never done it again since.

Catherine:
I'm leaving it there. You can't top that, can you, really? So then Thinking about the kind of redundancy situation, that is a real challenge, isn't it, to anybody? And I and I'm wondering what that journey was like for you.

Toni:
Yeah, obviously twenty-three years in one job is a long time and at that point it was literally half of my life, you know. So you are you're suddenly thrown into well, what do I do with myself now?

Catherine:
Mm. And maybe a sense of I've given twenty three years.

Toni:
Yeah. And I was pretty dedicated and y you know, you a lot of friends there. It was it was a big part of me, so yeah it was pretty devastating at that time. Obviously a very supportive partner. who has also got his own business. So in the short term I went and started working with him just to have something to do, you know, while I was deciding what to do with myself And yeah, I think i that's when I sort of started to think, okay, do I do something with my love of treat making?

Catherine:
Yeah

Toni:
do I want to do this? Shall I r you know, will I end up resenting doing something that I see as a hobby? Because I do say don't you never do your hobbies a job because you might end up resenting it if it becomes a full-time thing But like you say, like I am passionate about what I do. So I had a good chat with my partner and said, look, you know, maybe I do do something with the fudge making or the cake making or the baking But what can I do to make it appealing and and different? You know, you've got a lot of businesses out there that provide treats and cake makers and fudge, so how can I be different? Yeah And that's when we came up with the concept of treat boxes.

Catherine:
Okay. Yeah.

Toni:
So in the shop obviously fudge is only one product available and it's all every every bit of fudge in the shop is made by me But obviously some people don't like fudge but they still want to gift a treat box. So I thought right I need to expand into or the ranges of products. Not many people don't like chocolates. I thought, right, I'm going to research and look into good quality chocolates. Yeah. So I sourced chocolates then I was like, Right, okay, so you could fill a treat box with forged chocolates. What else can we have? uh flavour gourmet shortbreads came along, flavour popcorns, hot chocolate supplies, fondant cream. So I was slowly starting to build sort of like a catalogue of products. I thought, okay, so I started bringing all these products in. I had my first little shop at uh Amoton Farm. There's like an artisan hall and they do little retail pods And there was an advertisement on social media for these retail pods. So I thought, you know, I inquired, had an interview, offered me a pod. So that was a nice way to kind of start out and test the waters really. Yeah. So that's what I did and for twelve months I had a pod where I had my forge, I had the chocolates, we had the shortbread, the honeycombs, the popcorn, and tested the waters with will people want to fill a treat box with these items to send as a gift And I learnt a lot in that 18 months in total. I learned a lot from people as to what products did and didn't work what people wanted when it come to gifting and personalisation and thankfully it took off very well So I'm really, really happy actually with how it has progressed and what we have learnt and how we have tweaked it to what we've got to offer today now.

Catherine:
Yeah.

Toni:
Yeah.

Catherine:
What was that journey towards having the confidence to open that first place in amateur? You you talked a bit about finding the self-belief to enter a cake in the Cake International and you've just been made redundant. So I'm just wondering what that journey was like for you.

Toni:
Confidence i it does hit a low when you've been in a job for twenty three years and suddenly you feel like you're you're out there alone in the big wide world and well, what am I gonna do with myself? But I think it was only because of my strong passion for my bakes and my makes. That to be able to lean on that was a good starting point for my confidence because I've been doing it for so long and obviously off the back of a an award as well. that was my best avenue really to build on that. And you know that the pod, it was it was a small little retail pod, like I say it was a testing the waters kind of thing. So you could almost dip your toe a little bit and it wasn't too scary. It was part of a a hall with lots of other artisans, you know, in like a it's almost like a market type setup. So it wasn't scary enough that you were out there on your own, you were amongst other people in there. So it developed a nice friendly relationship with the other artisan uh pod owners. So I couldn't have asked it to sort of gotten off the ground in a better way really. And my confidence built each day when people, thankfully were trying the products and saying how lovely they were.

Catherine:
Yes. Yeah.

Toni:
That built my confidence. Actually this is yeah, this is a good thing. I have got something here and the products are amazing and um Yeah, it just it just grows like that really.

Catherine:
I think I think it's really interesting that you're kind of talking about those little steps 'cause I think for anybody trying like a new project or a new venture, you you don't have to start with the kind of the big scary thing, that kind of thing about well what have I got confidence to do?

Toni:
Well actually before I saw the advertisement for the Artisan Pods we'd started to think about the idea of of treat boxes and I was still working with my husband at the time but whilst I was in the office My brain was ticking over, you know, thinking what can I do for myself? I need my own thing. It was coming up to Halloween and uh I said, you know what, we should be doing like little chocolate bars for Halloween got my husband to design some wrappers, put them on some chocolate bars and uh so, you know, we could advertise these. See if people'd be interested, you could put like names on there, Happy Halloween, you know, put children's names on there. So we actually started in the office, didn't have a shop, yep, didn't have a pod. We were just syncing ideas and just advertising on social media

Catherine:
So your creativity enabled you to think, well what have we got? Well I've got a husband who's a graphic designer and I've got some chocolate and it's Halloween. Yep. So just creatively bringing together those elements that you've got in front of you.

Toni:
I mean it's quite funny when I think back now. So we were doing little Halloween boxes with three chocolate bars in. And when I think about that first treat box was a small round pizza box with three chocolate bars in it to what it is now in three years. Yeah. How that's come on. And I'm sitting here now in a shopping Trentham, shopping village, you know, I'm pretty happy. But at the time you feel like I desperately need something to work I'm out of work now. It's gone from being a hobby and I can just do this casually to I need this to now work.

Speaker 3
Yeah.

Toni:
I need this to work. I I need this to be something I can actually do for a living. So the pressure of that And getting going when it's just on social media is really difficult. You've got to know all the tips and tricks and be very consistent with social media and you know to uh and it and it's tough.

Catherine:
Yeah.

Toni:
When you haven't actually got a face. or an actual premises for someone to come to and you're just online, it's tough to get going.

Catherine:
Yes, yeah, yeah. And there is so much there is so much competition, isn't there? Whatever it whatever it is that you're doing Yeah. So what are you loving about working for yourself rather than working for somebody else?

Toni:
I think overall it is that sense of look where we've bought this. Look how we've brought this on, you know, and over the last three years and that keeps me going to sort of say This is where we're at, but we can go so much further.

Catherine:
Yeah.

Toni:
And being in control of that sort of how do we make this bigger and better? Yeah. And I think because obviously having my own business and my husband having his own business, he understands we can be home in the evening. and talking about the businesses and and what we and thankfully he's very passionate about my business. So we'll sit and we throw ideas around you which is brilliant.

Catherine:
Yeah.

Toni:
Yeah.

Catherine:
So how have you changed through this process?

Toni:
I've had to learn a lot. I mean, don't get me wrong, when uh you know when I was in in the the veterinary role I was part of a management team, so you do pick up and you do get trained in a management position. So I could bring a lot of that over, thankfully, you know. Um but I mean you can't know everything when you're just starting out about it there's a lot a lot to learn but again really really lucky that my husband's had a business for nearly 30 years So I had to had to learn a lot from him. So I'm really proud of how much I've yeah had to take on as well as still making, let's not forget, the fudge. Every single week I still have to be in that kitchen three, sometimes four times a week and do the shop and be the marketer and do the accounts and all the paperwork that comes with it. So I've had to learn to balance things very, very well. Don't always get it right. I've learned to take the pressure off myself a little bit.

Catherine:
Okay.

Toni:
Because I think when you get to where you are now, it puts things into perspective a little bit more and you do have to learn to obviously be very, very organised, which I I think I do pride myself on being, but to just go easy on yourself, I think. Yeah. Because you know, you talk to other business owners and you realise particularly if you one man bands or even in this one, you know, with my business partner there's so, so much to do. Yeah. But just go easy on yourself.

Catherine:
So what does that going easy on yourself look like? How are you creating space for you?

Toni:
It's tricky and you have to really every single day. Make a point of really sitting down and saying, right, remember work home life balance. My husband's the same. You know, he's a one-man band. So it is tricky, but we do sit down and say, right, evening times when we're home, it's our time. We both as I'm sure many business owners do, get the emails, get the texts, get the messages from customers. And I think we do manage to sort of say after a certain time in the evening This is our time. Nothing's compromised, everything gets sorted, but you could very, very easily find that it's all work. Yeah. And then before you know it, you've spiraled and days, weeks, months go by and suddenly and this has happened to me in the last few years. every waking moment can be consumed if you let it.

Catherine:
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Toni:
And it's only when fully recognising myself that if I was awake I was doing something about work or stressing about something being ordered or I haven't made this or I need to sort out that, you know. And I did actually Start to get quite ill until one day thankfully I I did recognize that and had to sit down and have a word with myself and say, you need to refocus, step back prioritize, look at the bigger picture and get your day-to-day back in some kind of order and remember there's other things going on.

Catherine:
Yeah.

Toni:
It's not easy. It's not easy. You do sleep. You want to constantly give the best service you can.

Catherine:
Yeah.

Toni:
And you don't want to disappoint people. And I think in the first few years, you you know, an inquiry comes through or somebody wants something like I drop everything.

Catherine:
Yeah.

Toni:
And I do it because I want that person to be happy. But now I realize that person can still be happy and I can still have a good balance.

Catherine:
Yes. Yeah.

Toni:
But I think it's just it's it's new business. It's new business. One to do everything right, one to keep everybody happy. And then I say as time goes on and and you realise the stress doesn't actually really achieve much. No. You can still do a very good job and still keep everybody happy, but have a well managed and organized routine.

Catherine:
Yeah, yeah.

Toni:
Thankfully I'm there now. After a few more extra grey hairs, I finally uh learnt that one.

Catherine:
And you you said a lot about your husband and I'm wondering how your relationship with one another has shifted in the course of you becoming a business person.

Toni:
He's extremely proud of where it is and he actually really enjoys now coming and working the shop. And and then these are his words. he actually enjoys being on my side of the business more than his own now. Um, which is lovely. But uh Again, I ha I have to give credit to him that, you know, he guided me along starting the whole business, you know, what the what I needed to do. the excitement for what we were putting together. And yes, I do say about work home life balance, but we do actually both really enjoy sitting down. coming up with new ideas and and oh we could do this and oh what would that look like and we could add that and oh that would be amazing and I wonder if people so You know, there's a lot of that conversation.

Catherine:
Yeah.

Toni:
And I'm just really grateful that we have the two of us that we think very similarly and our ideas, our thoughts are very similar. We do do a lot of that. And then I'll say right stop. That's it. Okay, we've talked about work now. We've done that. Brilliant. It's all great. It's all good. Brilliant ideas But put it to bed.

Catherine:
Yeah. Yeah.

Toni:
Let's go for a walk. Because you could. I mean, we've literally sat up to early hours of the morning.

Catherine:
Sounds like great fun though.

Toni:
It does, it does. Or I'll wake up at two o'clock in the morning and go, ooh, I've just thought of a new flavour for some fudge. And you'd be like, oh not another one. No, don't tell me I've got to make even more ingredients labels for you and times I'm like, sorry. Will you will you stop making more flavours? Oh I can't promise that.

Catherine:
Yeah. It's really, really precious, isn't it, to have somebody who is on your side and rooting for you?

Toni:
100%, yeah. Um he gets it. He just gets it. No, that's brilliant.

Catherine:
So tell us about some of your fudge flavours. What's your weirdest fudge flavour, do you think? Weirdest?

Toni:
I'm only going to say weird because I personally it wouldn't be one of my choices, but there's a real fondness for licorice. Really? I'm not a fan of Licorice personally, but I can't ignore the many requests for Licorice Forge which The first few times I was thinking, really? But the requests cape come in and I'm like, okay, I need to look into this. It's obviously uh yeah, th there's a demand. I wouldn't have come up with that as a flavour if if it wasn't for people asking for it. Yeah. But there you have it. And Licush is one of the thirty-six. And what's your favourite? Oh that's really tricky because I've kind of got two.

Catherine:
Yeah, well what what are your two favourites?

Toni:
Chocolate peanut butter. Mm-hmm. Because I absolutely love peanut butter. And the the second one is actually a flavour that's very, very new. I uh I only first made this flavour probably about five or six weeks ago. Turkish Delight. Ooh. So it's a chocolate based fudge. So you've got two bases, you know, so either a caramel base or a chocolate base. So it's a chocolate base forge with we actually use rose oil because rose gives you that Turkish delight kind of flavour. One day I was in the kitchen and I thought, you know what? But of rose oil, let's see what that comes through light in it. Wasn't entirely confident it would come through the chocolate fudge mix, but oh it does beautifully actually. Um so I made a batch, bought it into the shop and just cut it into testers and just asked for feedback really from from people coming into the shop. And it was quite funny because brilliant brilliant response to it and in fact a few people said well can we buy it as at all it's like kind of testing the water with it you know to get sort of feedback Well uh but that's really good and I wanted to buy it. I had to actually one person asked me if they could genuinely buy the bits that I'd cut up as testers for feedback. Just please just just I'll back up the bits. I'll buy it.

Catherine:
So that was your answer. People liked that, yeah.

Toni:
And and it's become one of my favorites and it's yeah, it's now in the shop.

Catherine:
The weirdest thing I had when I came into your shop was chocolate covered pork scratchings.

Toni:
Yeah, this is the controversial one, which for people who are hearing about this for the first time And that coming to the shop, you you see the faces like, am I am I am I seeing that right? Am I hearing that right? Surely that's not a thing. And your typical reaction is, oh no. And yet it's one of my most popular products that I actually have to make ten kilos a week.

Catherine:
Wow, that is a lot.

Toni:
So they are now in pubs, they're in some delis and it's a product that should never exist. But it does and it's the snacking never knew you needed. So it is pork crackling. So it's not the hard scratchings with all like the fat and the meat and the it's the crackling. So we actually came up with this for an event a couple of years ago. So it's a an event in the Black Country that we were attending and they asked if we could provide a snack, a treat that's kind of black country themed, but something a bit unusual. Yeah.

Catherine:
Well it's definitely unusual.

Toni:
Definitely unusual. Now a few weeks earlier I am a big fan of watching Dragon's Den. And on one particular episode they were the the person took in the bar of crisps. So it was a chocolate bar with crisps in it. Yeah So okay, and it went down really quite well. It's that sweet and savory combination. That sweet and salty. So when we were asked to do a tree for the Black Country, but something a bit unusual, uh that popped back into my head. So I thought, well what's Black Country? Pork scratchings. And we were actually sat on the sofa, me and my husband, and it's like port scratchings. What if we put what if we put chocolate on it? And we kinda looked at each other and like Oh I don't know. So in the next minute we found ourselves in the kitchen. So we got down this bag of scratchings, melted some chocolate, dipped a few in, we tried it and looked at each other like Oh my god. That actually works. So we found the organizer. So look, we've come up with a product, what do you think? And there was a bit of a pause. And I said, you know what? Do it. Do it. Give it a go. So we made probably about four or five baskets of these little bags of chocolate covered pork crackling, took it along to the event. the entire table sold out in the first hour.

Catherine:
Wow.

Toni:
Now I imagine it's from people looking thinking, what on earth is that? And just and they bite out of curiosity.

Catherine:
Yeah.

Toni:
Probably expecting to go, that's disgusting, but still curiosity with making them buy it. What was really quite interesting is they walk away and then ten, twenty minutes later come back Okay, that's really surprised me. Have you got any more? And that happened and it it completely sold out. People saying, Well, where can I get more? And we looked at each other and we're like, what have we done here? This is actually working, this is a thing. So we carried on making them and I took them into the shop. I still had the initial ooh, not sure about that. That's disgusting. So we did samples, filmed some people trying them, you know, we went to county show and took them to the county show had an amazing response there, sold over three hundred bags over the weekend and developed a real custom base for it. And it's quite funny because there's kind of a strapline now because we get this one particular reaction and it's it's said so many times after people try it that shouldn't work but it really does yeah so all it is is a very light, light coating of Belgian chocolate onto the pork crackling. We don't use the hard scratchings as I say. That that would be Weird. But the crackling just gives it that crunch, so it's sweet, salty, and crunchy. Yeah. You've just got to wrap your head around what it is, 'cause your brain will instantly say no. But nine times out of ten when we offer a sample and people try it and go, Oh my goodness. That shouldn't work, but it really does. Yes, yeah. And it's being compared to chocolate cover popcorn chocolate covered honeycomb 'cause you just get the crunch. Yeah. Yeah. With the sweet and the salty. So we also do flavours, so there's a smoked flavour. There's a masada flavour, there's a chili flavour, and they are doing so so well that this happy accident novelty product, whatever you want to call it, but this one event about two and a half years ago now is a real firm favourite in the shop and we've got them online. We've just sold quite a few for Father's Day. And then we went to a comedy event one night. There's a gentleman, his name's Johnny Cole, he's a black country comedian. We're actually from the backcountry ourselves We took him a gift box of these "Pork Chocs". We left the box with the stage manager and the next day I was scrolling through social media and Johnny Cole was going live. And I was like, oh Johnny Cole's gone live. We went to see him last night. He's like, hi guys, I thought I'd just come on. Last night we were we were gifted something from somebody and at this point I'm watching going, oh my goodness Lo and behold, he brings up the box to the camera. Said, no, don't know how I feel about this. Haven't tried them. So I thought I'd come on with you guys and we'll open them with trying them. And I'm watching thinking, oh my days This is either going to go really really well or really really bad. He opened the box, he opened each of the flavours as one of each flavour, and he tried them in the car passed them to his driver and thankfully each one he tried was like, Wow, that's amazing. Oh my guys, guys, I couldn't have asked for a better I didn't even know that was gonna happen. Yeah, yeah. But that really kick started something 'cause his he's known in the black countries he's on tour at the moment, but he's got quite a big following.

Speaker 3
Yeah.

Toni:
So the minute that lie went out My emails then started going bing, bing, bing, all the sales on on the website.

Catherine:
Yeah

Toni:
So I was like, oh my days. Since then we we have spoken to him quite a few times and his manager and he is actually he does kind of work in conjunction. with us and "Pork Chocs" now in doing promotion with us guys. He did a Father's Day video for us. He actually came into the kitchen and helped us develop the new flavour. So the masala is the Johnny Cole edition That was fun having him in the kitchen and he's on tour at the moment. So it's the Armagudd'n tour, which is on for the whole of this year Right up until November and he's actually selling them on his merchandise tables.

Catherine:
Brilliant.

Toni:
And with bespoke packaging. So it's got his tour. details on the top so 'cause you do bespoke packaging. Because we despoke th there we go. That's the we yeah. And and and again sh Stuart Musband, you know, he's he's really passionate about "Pork Chocs", as we called it Which Johnny Carl found very amusing. He he loves the whole "Pork Chocs" on and he's like we need to get this in pubs. We need to get this in delis So that's where we're at at the moment. We've got a number of pubs on board and we are currently seeking more stockists. So we'd we're going around sort of dropping samples, dropping off information. So yes, see where that goes for the rest of 2026, but hopefully um "Pork Chocs" will become a thing and yeah never thought that would be on my um business plan to be honest. No. But here we are. Yes.

Catherine:
Yeah. Yeah. So from that seven, eight year old kind of packaging up books and things in your bedroom, here you are packaging all kinds of really fascinating creative stuff. Yeah.

Toni:
We do have conventional stuff in the shop as well, you know. The the move to Trentham really came about because I met my business partner, yeah, Paul, who had his business chocolates to cherish. So when when I had my little shop at Amerton, I used Paul and sold his chocolates. Yeah. So he would supply me with his chocolates. Now Paul is a thirty-year master chocolateer. Paul has made chocolates for British Airways, Concord, Harrods, the Royal Family. So he knows his stuff. So I was like, Right, I need your chocolates in my shop. It was towards the end of last year that we we sort of got into conversation and I was looking to expand. He was looking to get a retail space. So that's when we discussed joining forces and getting the shop here at Trentham or certainly inquiring at Trentham about retail space. So when a shop became available they called us in and we went jointly in on what we're currently in at the moment, which is treat boxes and chocolates to cherish. So it's my fudge, Paul's chocolates. supported by all the other products that we have in, which we will only have from companies that w have won great taste awards, you know. So yeah, I'm very, very lucky to have that partnership with a master chocolateer. So I think it's quite a unique shop that you can come in where you actually you have the makers of most of the products in the shop actually making and being in the shop. Yeah. We're pretty proud of that. Yeah. Yeah. And then we've started, you know, we we bounce off each other and and come up with new flavours and ideas of products ourselves. Next we're we're going to combine, so I'll be making forge, he'll be putting his chocolate on it, you know, there's just there's just no end to What we can do. Yeah, yeah. Lots of possibilities.

Catherine:
What do you think your business offers the world and businesses like yours? How do you think what you do makes the world a better place?

Toni:
I love seeing the enjoyment in people of coming in and realizing very quickly that Wow, this this there's something here that this is this is amazing. This is a fantastic thing that you're doing here. And I want to use that, I want to be a part of that. And I think to be able to give and allow people to really, really show that there's effort and thought gone into that gift. That's really bespoke, that's really me. And I love being able to offer a service where people are able to do that. Where you can pick up a box. So you can put items into it, you can write a message in it, you can personalize the wrapping, you can personalize the packaging, and then post it out to the recipient for you. So yeah.

Catherine:
Thank you so much for your time.

Toni:
Oh, thank you. I d I love talking about what we do.

Catherine:
It's really lovely to hear your story. Hope you enjoyed this episode of the Loved Call Gifted Podcast. If you'd like to get in touch, you can email lovedcalledgifted at gmail. com. You can find a transcript of this podcast at lovedcalledgifted. com and that's also the place to go if you're interested in the Loved Called Gifted course or if you'd like to find out about spiritual direction or coaching Watching. Thank you for listening